A glance at the 2014-15 Purdue men's basketball schedule

Purdue coach Matt Painter, shown here in the 2013-14 season opener against Northern Kentucky, will face two other former Boilermakers in the 2014-15 season.(Photo: Michael Heinz/Journal & Courier)Buy Photo

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This season's non-conference Purdue men's basketball schedule looks much like last season's. No marquee names will visit Mackey Arena, but a soft home schedule could give a young team a chance to build toward the challenges of the Big Ten Conference season.

That's not to say there aren't challenging non-conference games as well. At the Maui Invitational, the Boilermakers could face only teams that played in the NCAA tournament last season. Notre Dame should put up a fight at the Crossroads Classic in Indy. N.C. State is depleted since last season, but is no slouch. The trip to Vanderbilt could look like last season's visit to West Virginia — a potentially crucial road test for a possible postseason résumé.

But first things first: Purdue must take care of its non-conference business at home like it did last season. The Boilermakers will be favored to be 3-0 when they head to Hawaii, where they must summon a better performance than last year's underwhelming trip to Orlando. Another key game could come Dec. 6 against North Florida, which returns its five leading scorers from a .500 season.

Last season, the plan didn't work. While Purdue won all of its non-conference home games, the 1-2 stint in Orlando, the neutral loss to Butler and the late-season Big Ten skid resulted in a second straight losing season. Considering the level of competition, the big question will be how the Boilermakers are playing, not whether or not they're winning these early games.

Will A.J. Hammons take a step forward? Will Bryson Scott and/or P.J. Thompson stabilize the point guard position? What impact will the incoming freshman class make, and how quickly?

2014-15 OPPONENTS, AT A GLANCE

Nov. 2 — vs. California University of Pennsylvania (Exhibition): The Vulcans are a Division II program that finished 11-16 last season but return their top four scorers. Purdue defeated California (Pa.) in a 2007-08 exhibition, 78-44.

Nov. 7 — vs. Carroll College (Exhibition): The Saints are an NAIA Div. I program coached by former Boilermaker Carson Cunningham. In his first season, Carroll improved from two wins to nine and led NAIA Div. I in free throw percentage while finishing 12th in 3-point percentage.

Nov. 14 — vs. Samford: Purdue opens the regular season against the Bulldogs, from Birmingham, Ala. Coached by former Indiana assistant Bennie Seltzer, Samford went 13-20 last season (6-10 Southern Conference) and returns its top three scorers, led by Tim Williams (17.6).

Nov. 16 — vs. IUPUI: This will be the Boilermakers' first meeting with the Jaguars, who are coached by 1999 Indiana Mr. Basketball Jason Gardner. Former West Lafayette standout Justus Stanback averaged 3.3 points and 2.2 rebounds while playing in all 32 games as a freshman. IUPUI finished 6-26 last season, 1-13 in the Summit League.

Nov. 20 — vs. Grambling St. The Tigers, another first-time opponent, finished 5-24 last season, including a a 3-14 mark in the SWAC. Antwan Scott averaged 15.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists last season while hitting 39.2 percent of his 3-pointers.

Nov. 24-26 — Maui Invitational: Matchups have not been set for this prestigious annual event, but opponents could include Arizona, BYU, Kansas State, Missouri, Pittsburgh, San Diego State and host Chaminade. (Previously announced)

Dec. 2 — vs. North Carolina State: The Wolfpack visit Mackey Arena as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. N.C. State advanced to the NCAA tournament with a 22-14 record last season but lost Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year T.J. Warren to the NBA draft. (Previously announced)

Dec. 6 — vs. North Florida: Purdue faces the Ospreys for the second time, the other being a 77-57 Purdue victory in 2010. North Florida (16-16 overall last season, 10-8 Atlantic Sun) return four of their top five scorers, including Dallas Moore 12.5 points, 2.6 assists) and Beau Beech (10.3 points, 4.2 rebounds).

Dec. 8 — IPFW: The Boilermakers are 5-0 all-time against the Mastodons, who finished 25-11 last season (10-4 Horizon League). Tony Jasick departed after that school-record wins performance to take over at Jacksonville University. Assistant Jon Coffman replaced him, and his top returnees include Steve Forbes (12.1 points, 5.3 rebounds) and Mo Evans (9.6 points, 1.3 steals).

Dec. 10 — Arkansas St.: Yet another first-time opponent, the Red Wolves finished 19-13 (10-8 Sun Belt) under John Brady, who once coached LSU to the Final Four. ASU graduated its top five scorers from last season and returns no one who averaged more than 7.6 points per game.

Dec. 13 — at Vanderbilt. For its first true road trip, Purdue heads to Nashville to face former Boilermaker player and coach Kevin Stallings and the Commodores. Vanderbilt finished 15-16 last season (7-11 SEC) and its top returning players are sophomore center Damian Jones (11.3 points, 5.7 rebounds) and senior guard Dai-Jon Parker (8.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists). According to Purdue sports information, the two programs have not played since the 1964-65 season, and not in Tennessee since the 1901-02 season.

Dec. 20 — vs. Notre Dame at Bankers Life Fieldhouse (Crossroads Classic): The Boilers face the Irish in this semi-annual rotation. Notre Dame finished 15-17 last season and graduated its top two scoring and assist leaders. (Previously announced)